Apparatus and method of routing cabling around leveler legs in a thin modular office panel

Abstract

A modular furniture component such as an electrified relatively thin panel has electrical wiring in a raceway near a downwardly depending adjustable leveler leg and a pluggable multiconductor cable for connecting the raceway electrical wiring with another modular furniture component. The components may each comprise a relatively thin upstanding generally rectangular modular office wall panel having an electrical wiring containing raceway near a bottom edge. Adjacent panels have the raceways generally horizontally aligned with one another. In one form, apparatus and method is disclosed for routing the power and data cables/conductors out of the bottom of the panels next to threaded leveler legs and back up into the adjacent panel. The cable is located closely adjacent a thinnest portion of the adjustable leveler leg and has a portion thereof displaced vertically below each raceway. The cables are enclosed in a removable device that clamshells around the legs with the clamshell located beneath a lowermost portion of the raceway for enclosing portions of the leveler leg and cable. The clamshell cable housings can be in a variety of shapes to accommodate any combination of panel intersections with straight, parallel, 90°, “T”, cross or four-way, and 120° described. In another form, the panel support posts are modified to present a thin portion of leveler legs about which the cables may be routed in horizontal alignment with the raceways.

1. An electrified modular wall panel system, comprising:
 at least two relatively thin upstanding generally rectangular modular office wall panels, each having an electrical wiring containing raceway near a bottom edge thereof, and a pair of adjustable leveler legs extending from the panel bottom edge, one near each end of each panel bottom edge; 
 a removable jumper cable assembly for electrically coupling the wiring in one panel raceway with the wiring in the other panel raceway; and 
 a shroud for enclosing a central portion of the jumper cable assembly and a relatively thin adjustable length portion of one leveler leg of each panel, wherein the shroud comprises two substantallly identical portions each having a first set of notches which, when the portions are joined, encircle respective legs, and a second set of notches which, when the portions are joined, provide passageways for the assembly cable to pass between the raceway and the shroud. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the panel raceways are generally horizontally aligned with one another and the central portion of the jumper is vertically displaced below the raceways. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 2 , wherein the panels are positioned in quadrature with one another and the shroud comprises a pair of matable generally “L” shaped shroud portions. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the horizontal thickness of the shroud and enclosed jumper and leg portion is not greater than the horizontal thickness of each panel. 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein there are four panels, each having an electrical wiring containing raceway near a bottom edge thereof and each extending at a generally right angle to an adjacent pair of panels, the system including two further jumper cable assemblies, each jumper cable assembly electrically coupling the wiring in a distinct pair of orthogonally disposed panel raceways. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 5 , wherein the shroud encloses a central portion of each of the three assembly cables and a relatively thin adjustable length portion of one leveler leg of each of the four panels. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 6 , wherein the shroud comprises four matable generally “L” shaped shroud portions. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the leveler legs have regions of various horizontal thicknesses and the shroud partially encloses regions of minimal horizontal thickness of each leg. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 8 , wherein the regions of minimal horizontal thickness comprise generally cylindrical externally threaded regions. 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 1 , wherein there are three panels, one extending at a generally right angle to an adjacent pair of panels, the system including one further jumper cable assembly, each jumper cable assembly electrically coupling the wiring in a distinct pair of panel raceways. 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 10 , wherein the shroud encloses a central portion of each of the two assembly cables and a relatively thin adjustable length portion of one leveler leg of each of the three panels. 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 10 , wherein the shroud comprises two generally “L” shaped shroud portions having matable respective first legs and a generally linear shroud portion including halves each matable with a respective “L” shaped shroud portion second leg. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 1 , wherein there are a plurality of n+1 relatively thin upstanding generally rectangular modular office wall panels, each having an electrical wiring containing raceway near a bottom edge thereof, the removable jumper cable assembly including n multiconductor cables terminating in n+1 cable end connectors n−1 of which accommodate two cables and two of which accommodate a single cable, each cable end connector adapted to electrically connect with the electrical wiring of a panel raceway for electrically coupling the wiring in one panel raceway with the wiring in each of the other panel raceways. 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 13 , wherein there are n+1 panels and the cover comprises n+1 matable cover portions, the cover portions being nearly identical only when n is an odd number.